6th graders in Hunan made to kneel before teachers as punishment, netizens scornful

Pictures showing more than 30 students being disciplined by kneeling in front of teachers at a school in Hunan have emerged online, with netizens critical of the way in which the teachers are treating the relatively young students.According to People’s Daily, the photo was taken on March 13 at a school in Anren country, Hunan province. After being uploaded to social media they quickly found a large audience online, eventually drawing the attention of local authorities.Following an investigation, authorities revealed that the students were being punished after a few boys had caused a commotion in their classroom during their lunch break. Wanting to set a clear example, the vice-principal took the entire class of students outside and made them kneel and apologise for around four minutes.The Anren Education Bureau announced that the vice-principal, named Zhang Qiong, has been suspended from duties and made to apologise to all the students involved and their families.While the plight of these students certainly got netizens talking, the reaction was comparatively subdued compared to the controversy generated when a video of a teacher savagely beating a female student in the middle of class came to light last month.By Dominic Jackson